Kieren Fallon ready for State Visit to Yarmouth
Selling races may be the bargain basement of the game but all winners count for a man like Kieren Fallon.
The former champion jockey has been back in top form since an admitted loss of confidence in mid-season, with 55 winners since the beginning of August. Amy Weaver has provided two of Fallon’s winners this season, from just five rides, and she has booked the Irishman for State Visit in the Eastern Power Systems Selling Stakes at Yarmouth.
With an official rating of 75, State Visit is well in at the weights, and won a claimer at Salisbury on similar ground last month.
The Robert Mills yard is having a good time of it with his juveniles this month, with three winners from six runners. Song of Hope is a broodmare who has produced a fair few two-year-old winners and Paperetto could be the answer in the European Breeders' Fund Maiden Stakes. Fettuccine is the likely market leader, after a reasonable debut run at Windsor in June, but Jeremy Noseda has only a 10% strike-rate for October.
Paul Nicholls has made a slow start to the season, with just 21 runners by the end of September.
Now with the first of the major races coming into view, the champion trainer is moving through the gears and Exeter is a happy hunting ground for him; and not simply because it is close to him.
A 39% strike-rate makes his runners hard to oppose and it is difficult to see Celestial Halo not improving on those figures when he starts his career over fences in the Best Mate Beginners' Chase. Rated at least 35lb superior to any of his four rivals he should have little problem getting off the mark – and his odds will reflect - and is said to have been schooling well after recovering from the crashing he took in the he took in the Grade One Aintree Hurdle in April, that left jockey Ruby Walsh with a triple fracture of his left arm.
Garton King offers slightly more chances of a rewarding fiscal return in the Exeter Racecourse Christmas Raceday Hospitality Amateur Riders' Novices’ Hurdle. Although this will be his first start under Rules, Garton King won three point-to-points, when trained by Richard Barber, the last by 15 lengths.
Tags: